Disclaimer: I own none of the Sega chaters, they belong to their respective owners.
Authors ramble: Many thanks to the reviews and support shown though apologies for not updating sooner. Its been a mad start to the year combined with the fact how much of this chapter has been reworked/changed/edited from the original that it has taken up a suprising amount of time. Still not entirely sure if I got it as I want but hey ho, time to release it into the wild before I fall asleep on the keyboard!
Ramble over.

The two weeks that had separated that night by the river and the dance had gone relatively smoothly. In that time Nic would fuss over him like a mother hen with its only chick, initially annoying J but after he had a chat with Tails he came to relies she hadn't really had chance to learn how to act upon some emotions and she only meant well.
A concern for him was the nightmares she had roughly every other night (discovered after being upgraded from the sofa so to speak), though it was a simple matter of stroking her or a hug to settle her it still worried him as she would never say what it was about, though guessed it was something do with her past.
On a more positive note Nic's confidence had grown, happily taking him to a human bar close to home, and a bonus of that was discovering the human locals in general showed him a degree of respect purely on the basis of him being one of the "original" race once they had discovered his origins, though that was only after he explained how he met Nic after a few questioned why he was with a mobian instead of a human. Another thing learnt from the bar was parts of the human populace were not happy with the head off state, and the barrage of new rules now being imposed on human business owners, wishing they had a democracy and not a monarch.

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The evening of the dance had arrived, J sat in the living room waiting patiently for Nic to finish off getting ready. The problem with waiting was that it was giving himself time to think about how he looked in the suite, the suite Nic had persuaded him to buy for the occasion. He didn't hide his dislike to formal dress codes but went along with it considering this seemed important to her, and had thought of something that might ease his discomfort with the look...

As the lynx walked into the living room J choked and spluttered on a drink as soon as he seen her wearing a little black dress. Spotting a bottle of human spirit sitting on the coffee she worked out what he choked on and was a bit concerned why he chose it. Before he could entirely regain his composure she asked:

"Why are you drinking that?"

"I guess you could say its Dutch courage needed for wearing this." Looking over Nic's attire he added "You definitely don't need any, hell I didn't think perfection could be improved upon but you have managed to do it with that."

With a large smile she replied "Well that answered my next question."
Looking over him she couldn't be happier with how he looked, though could see how tense he was.

"You really aren't happy in that are you? I know what will make you feel more yourself... Stay here."

In less than a minute she was back in the room with his Bushman's hat, handing it to him she said: "You can wear it, the last thing I want is my human unhappy because of me. Come on we best go now."

Putting on the hat he followed her out of the door, smiling over her new favorite thing of calling him "my human".

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Arriving late at the dance inside the palace grounds they couldn't ignore the looks that the other mobians were casting their direction, and even some being bold enough to openly point at the two. Now J wasn't worried at the slightest at what they thought as long as they didn't make any comments, whilst Nic's confidence remained intact taking it all in her stride as they made their way to the dance floor.

As time went by it became clear that a human trying to copy a mobian dance definitely drew attention, but not as much as a lynx copying an old earth dance. The two weren't bothered as they rarely took their eyes of each other and were enjoying themselves far too much.
As a song finished before an interval J picked her up, swung her around followed by the pair kissing.

A mixture of gasps of shock from the sidelines and applause from some more enlightened people filled the air before the a familiar giggling pulled them out of the moment.

"Awe I didn't mean to disturb you two, I just would never have expected you to have had the bottle to do that, still you two are such a cute couple!"

Jay wearily replied "Thanks Amy... are you with Sonic tonight?"

To that Amy's face dropped before replying with a hint of anger:

"He is with Sally."

Nic intervened, remembering she had yet to explain to J not to annoy her or get her angry "Never mind Amy, he will come around sooner or later. Still who are you with tonight?"

"I supposed be with a few friends but they have all dropped out at the last-minute. Tails will be around Sonic and her, so I'm just seeing who's around."

J and Nic glanced at each other before Nic spoke: "You can be with us if you like, that's if you don't mind being seen with a human/mobian couple, especially as one of them is wearing a dumb looking hat."

A smile crept over Amy's face before she hugged the two.

"Awe you guys are great, I'll grab some drinks before the music starts again." With that the pink hedgehog let go and quickly ran off to the bar.

"Bless her, her harts in the right place isn't it, shame Sonic can't see that."

"It is, but there is a lot of things you still don't know J, I think that he can see it but is stuck until he can escape without causing too much damage."

"Hmm sounds complicated, makes me think are troubles are nothing by comparison."

She nodded in agreement followed by another kiss before Amy could get back with the drinks.

A female voice rang out across the floor:

"NICOLE! What are you doing with that thing ? I mean haven't you created enough problems in the past, let alone this? You disgust me, and to think you were my friend you freak!"

J looking over Nic's shoulder could see the source of the derogatory comments. It was a squirrel type mobian with brown hair and blue eyes. Nic knew exactly who the voice belonged to without looking, and knew whatever J would say wasn't going to be diplomatic.

In his anger he failed to spot a blue hedgehog and fox frantically motioning him to be quiet. As his mouth opened to speak a part of his brain was telling him he had seen her before from somewhere, not that it mattered as he was well past the point of no return, shouting:

"HOW DARE YOU! How dare you talk to Nicole like that you jumped up tree rodent! What is wrong with two people loving each other? I tell you what, nothing! Hell with friends like you who needs enemy's? Go on get f#### you bloody tree rat!

An eerie silence descended across the dance floor. Everyone had there jaws on the floor except J and Nic. He was still full of rage and glaring at the squirrel wishing she wasn't a female or he would have taken it outside. Nic was grinning like a Cheshire cat considering he had stood his ground, and had thought of the perfect thing to top it off with, a bit of retaliation for the things the squirrel had said to her in the past.

"You know how to really wind her up J?"

Not sure what to expect he uttered "Go on."

"Come here."

The pair shared a passionate kiss, the squirrel letting out a shriek at the sight before passing out.

"I think we best go now J."

"Too true my dear, too true."

He took off his hat and placed it on her head which made her giggle. As they walked from the dance floor and out of the palace grounds Nicole somehow felt liberated by it all, the crowd behind them still looking on in awe.

A guard was the first to break the silence asking: "Sonic should I go after them?"

The blue hedgehog let out a sigh whilst looking at the unconscious squirrel: "No don't worry about them, Sally brought this on herself."